Synod Business: In response to the “Way Forward Task Force,”synod voted to appoint a working group to come up with “resources that will encourage grace-filled conversations among those holding varying understandings” with regard to homosexuality; it denied a recommendation to explore constitutional changes that would enable congregations and ministers to separate from the RCA “without recriminations such as forfeiture of property.”

Synod approved papers produced by two of its commissions: “Scripture and Moral Discernment”(Christian Unity) and “Constitutionality” (Theology). It also instructed commissions to draft study papers on human sexuality (Theology), violence (Christian Action), and a theological vision for a multiracial and multicultural church (Theology).

The synod voted to fund RCA mission and ministry with a per-member assessment of $49.29 in the coming year, an increase of $1.67 (3.5 percent).